Resistance: Final Push
by abstow89
Summary: <html><head></head>A few weeks after Hale's death, a special squadron of soldiers are sent to launch one final attack against the Chimeras before the human race goes extinct. Rated M for swearing, gore, and brief sexual content.</html>
1. Our Last Chance

**Resistance: Final Push**

**Our Last Chance**

There was no reason to be there. He knew deep down that he didn't want to be there in that office, staring down at the man who he had to refer to as "General." Sure, he was a soldier, but even he had his breaking points. Captain Donny Salsmick was tired of war, tired of the Chimera, tired of walking through the forest thinking that a Chameleon would sneak up on him and disembowel him. He was tired of fighting an enemy that clearly had their army outnumbered by tens of thousands, if not millions. Donny was just exhausted, to the point where he just wanted to drop his gun and walk away from it all. He wanted to be with his wife, spend the last few moments of life with her, holding her and telling her that sooner or later, all their suffering would end. But instead, there he was, still wearing his Black ops. uniform and still clutching a Carbine rifle in his arms, awaiting orders. Donny sighed and fiddled with his gun a bit, desperately wanting to smash it on the ground with fury.

"What is it, sir?"

The general was sitting there, still wearing his general's outfit, feeling not much better than Donny was. Of course, he'd never admit that. The remaining soldiers still alive trusted in him and went to him when it came to moral support. But truthfully, the general didn't know how to start his sentence without just saying it. The two men stared at each other in silence, with nothing to hear except for the clock ticking and the faint gunfire and explosions outside the building. The general sighed heavily and pushed his fingertips together.

"Do you think that's it for us?"

"Sir?"

"Us. The human race, Captain. Do you think we'll be extinct in a matter of months, maybe years?"

Donny shrugged. "You tell me, sir. Ever since I first saw a Chimera, I began to realize that anything was possible."

The general blinked and tightened his jaw a bit. "This is supposed to be the part where you say, 'No, General, we're gonna send those fuckin' Chimeras right back to their own dimension,' Captain."

Donny brushed a hand through his dark brown hair and started to rub his forehead. "All right, let's just maneuver past this dance and get to the point: America's in trouble. Over half this country's citizens are dead or dying, our military's been heavily decimated, and even though that bomb that went off in the middle of the sky took out a huge chunk of those gorillas, they're not gonna stop attacking us until we're all dead. We don't know what to do, we don't know how to do it, and a lot of us are losing or have lost all hope."

Donny held up a hand when the general opened his mouth. "Before you say anything, just know that I'm not one of those soldiers whose lost hope. I'm not a coward, and I'm not going crazy. If anything, I don't think I've been saner right now than I was since this war started."

The general leaned forward and let out a small chuckle. "Are you resigning?"

Donny didn't answer him directly. "Last time I spoke to my wife, she said she was pregnant. And considering we had sex the last time I saw her in person, the time fits. That was about three months ago, General. You've seen those cocoons in people's houses; you have any idea how many friends of mine were deployed into their home town, only to realize that their whole family has been turned into Grims?"

"Are you resigning?" asked the general, more sternly.

"I am asking you to let me have more personal time."

"So you can run away like a coward with your precious wife?"

"I am _not_ a coward," said Donny firmly, "I just don't care any more."

"What about your team, Captain?" Now the general was raising his voice. "What about all the other soldiers who know you, who look up to you, who depend on you?"

"I depended on you once, and everytime I needed you to provide my team air support, or to send backup, or do something that'll stop us from being torn to shreds by Stalkers, you looked the other way. Where were you when four Titans were assaulting an entire team of Black Ops. soldiers? Where were you when we were in Vegas getting our asses handed to us by the Steelheads? Where were you when my team was forced to watch two very young soldiers get their faces ripped off by Howlers?"

"I thought Howlers were extinct?"

"Don't change the subject."

"So, let me get this straight, Captain: you're saying that because you don't care any more, that you should just give up hope on humanity and bend over and let the Chimera fuck you in the ass. But as long as you're holding your wife's hand while they sodomize you, you'll be fine."

Donny sighed exasperatedly. The general drummed a few of his fingers on his desk. "I thought so."

"Sir—"

"We may have a way to…get back at the Chimera. At least long enough for them retreat for the next couple of years."

"Sir, they have us by the balls. They have absolutely no reason to retreat."

"The Fission Bomb didn't work, but we can try Hale's method in our own country."

"Hale's dead, and he's part of the reason why our Chimeran situation is ten times worse."

"If you recall the situation in London, after Hale destroyed the Chimeran tower and killed a handful of Angels, all the Chimeras on the ground just fell down and died. So that got me and several others thinking, 'What if we destroy the towers in America? It only took Hale half a week to retake an entire country; surely it would take us the same amount of time.'"

"So, what, you want my team to go around America, save any soldiers and civilians in distress, and destroy any towers we come into contact with?"

"In a nutshell, yes."

Donny scoffed. "I'd be better off sticking my handgun in my mouth. The only person who has managed to even _try_ doing everything you just said was Nathan Hale—who's dead—James Grayson—who's MIA and possibly infected with the virus—and Hale's team of Sentinels, all of whom are dead, short of Capelli."

"Exactly. You should be proud; you and your team will be the very first human beings who aren't infected with the virus to do something as extraordinary as Hale."

"You're not even asking me."

"Salsmick, we only have one shot at this. If we wait too long, then the opportunity will be gone forever. We might as well strike while the iron's hot, don't you agree?"

"Suppose I say no, and walk out that door behind me."

"Oh, you won't do that. You keep telling me you want to see your wife again, but how can you if you're locked away in a jail cell, in a city she doesn't even know is still intact?"

Donny frowned. "You're threatening to arrest me? Out of all the things—"

"We know about your various criminal activities, Captain. The only reason why no one ever brought it up before was because we figured a valiant soldier like you could be very valuable on the battlefield. But since you're so adamant in resigning, I see no problem with letting all the skeletons out the closet."

The captain sighed and chuckled wryly. "So it's down to blackmailing, is it?"

Like always, the general never gave a straight answer and changed the subject. "Your team will be deployed in San Fernando Valley in the next few hours. One of the towers has been spotted there in the heart of the city, and if you team is able to destroy it, we might just take out all the Chimera on the Pacific Coast. I suggest you get ready."

Donny stared at the general with his nostrils flared and his blood boiling, resisting every urge in his body to leap forward and attack the officer. He wanted to break his nose so bad, but knew that doing so would only give him and all the other superior officers a bigger reason to lock him up. Although, given their current situation, being stowed away in a cell would do wonders for Donny. At least he'd be safe from the Chimera there, temporarily. The soldier turned around and stomped out of the general's office, slamming his door along the way.

* * *

><p>Donny slammed his locker shut and started to pant, unable to keep the frustration bottled up any longer. He was in the locker room with his other six soldiers, all of whom were also shocked and angered by the general's decision.<p>

"Told you not to trust him." said Danton.

"Shut up, Private."

Private Lee Danton was the cynical soldier in the group. The only thing he enjoyed more than killing the Chimera was pissing off his teammates.

"Captain, I thought you said you wanted to leave all this—"

"I can't do that, Sergeant, not without ending up in jail."

Sergeant Tommy Polick, unlike Lee, was hopeful and patriotic. He had the same attitude as the general their captain reported to, but he was much more calm, and less manipulating or corrupt. Nevertheless, he had no trouble pushing his teammates past their limits if the outcome meant success.

"So we're gonna be this guy's workhorse until he doesn't need us any more and puts us all down?"

Corporal Jonny Myles was the only soldier in the squad who didn't trust anyone with a rank higher than his. It wasn't that he was paranoid, just very cautious. He had heard about the rumors going on with the Sentinels and Hale too, and seeing as how Hale was the person who not only turned into a Chimera, but damaged the planet's chances to strike back at the enemy hard, he didn't know who could turn on them next. He honestly thought that the captain was intentionally going on all these suicide missions just for the thrill of it.

"If you wanna be negative about it, yes, Myles, that's what's gonna happen."

"Did you even try to tell him about your wife?"

"You know he doesn't give a shit, Livy."

Corporal Olivia Vernez was one of the few female soldiers in the army who was just as adamant at defeating the Chimera like any other male soldier. Of course, she was a bit sensitive when it came to personal matters, especially people's families. She also had lived through the horrors of walking into town only to discover that everyone was locked inside a cocoon, waiting to transform into a Grim.

"Eh, you know how he is, Captain. You'd be better off saying you need some time off to go clean out your guns, since those are the only things he cares about."

"Mickey, just shut up. We all know this is gonna end with you saying, 'He's da boss, Captain. He can do whatever the fuck he wants and we have to listen to him,'" said Lee.

Corporal Mickey Tavern was the only soldier on Donny's team who never bothered arguing with his superiors, no matter how asinine their ideas were. He told himself that it was all for the best and that the outcome would always end up with the Americans winning, and the Chimera losing. So far his theories had been wrong. But unlike Lee, he wasn't so pessimistic, and always tried to encourage the team to keep moving forward, despite always being shouted at by Lee. The bulky man standing next to Mickey was Lars Rooney, although "man" may be an exaggeration. Everyone who knew Lars thought he was a statue; he could go days without talking, and even when he did, he wouldn't say much. Lars would just nod and say "Yes, sir" or "No, sir" or just shrug or grunt. No one knew much about him really, except he hated the Chimera, and he was bold enough to try and attack a Howler with his bare hands. He didn't kill it—he actually almost had his organs ripped out until Donny blasted the beast with his shotgun—but a lot of the soldiers thought Lars had a huge set of balls. They figured Lars was crazy, and that he wasn't a soldier to mess with.

"I'm just sayin', Lee."

"You're always just saying."

"Guys, bitching about it isn't going to help at all. Did the general say specifically what you did ten years ago?"

"Why does that matter, Polick?"

"Because if he didn't, he could just be bluffing. For all you know, that asshole's just forcing us to do this just so he won't have to."

"Wow, didn't know you were a coward too, Sarge."

"Are you saying you wanna go through with this?" asked Myles.

Lee shrugged. "Nothing's better than putting a few more Hybrids six feet under. 'Sides, from what the captain's telling us, we don't have a choice here."

Donny turned around and sighed as he leaned against the locker. "He said _I_ didn't have a choice. Look, I've known all you men—and Livy—for years now. You've all served under my command very diligently and without questioning my orders. Except you, Lee—you question everything I do. But that's to be expected."

"Why thank you," he said, while grinning.

"I won't force you to come with me, and I won't call any of you cowards for retreating. But I do know for certain that our chances of survival will increase dramatically if we stick together. And who knows, maybe the general isn't lying through his teeth this time around…maybe we might be able to put a stop to the Chimera. Does anyone here still have—I mean…have a family?"

Tommy, Lars, and Lee shook their heads. "No."

"…I had a daughter…" muttered Myles softly.

"The only living relative I can think of is my brother," said Mickey, before shrugging, "and I don't know where he is."

"My parents and a brother," said Olivia.

"You guys know if you leave now, you can spend the rest of your time searching for them."

"Captain, my brother always teased me for not sticking up for anyone or anything; I'm pretty sure if I leave now, his opinion of me won't change." said Mickey.

"There's no point in living in this world if it's infested with the Chimera. I'd be better off trying to find a way to kill 'em all with you, Captain."

"I'm serious men—and Livy. At this rate, none of you—"

"We're aware of the risks, Captain," said the sergeant. "We all know that we may not make it back home, we all know we could die, and we all know we could be infected by the virus. In all honesty, we're better off staying as a team and fighting the Chimera together, instead of going our separate ways. Even if we wanted to leave, we probably wouldn't even get to our families or friends before the Chimera caught us."

"So you'll stay?"

Lee chuckled. "'Til the end, Captain."

Donny smiled. "Good. Now, get your guns ready and let's move out soldiers! I don't want those gorillas stabbing me in the back 'cause you were too fucking stupid to check your clips!"

Tommy grinned, knowing that that was the captain's way of saying, "Thank you." He may have been on the brink of hopelessness, but the soldier they all served under still had fury flowing in his veins and hadn't lost his touch.

"Yes, sir!" said all the soldiers, before following the captain out the building.


	2. Time to Panic

**Time to Panic**

Getting there was the easy part, of course. It was dealing with the surroundings that the team had trouble coping with. Once the VTOL aircraft landed and dropped off the seven soldiers wearing their green uniforms, they were on their own, armed with nothing but knives, handguns, and their M5A2 Carbines. Of course, given Lars's weight, he felt more suited to handle a Wraith and a Rossmore Shotgun as his sidearm, unlike the rest of his team members. Donny instructed the team to head north towards a logging mill that wasn't far from their position—apparently, a small squad of soldiers had been holding out there and was in need of desperate help.

"So, it's a rescue mission now, Captain?" asked Lee.

"That's right, Private. Do you have any quarrel with that?"

"Nah. The more, the merrier. 'Sides, I'm getting tired of those gorillas only shooting at me when we get into a firefight. It'll be nice to know I have cannon fodder with me."

Donny sighed and ignored the man. The seven soldiers began to walk through the forested region of San Fernando Valley, making sure that they stayed away from the main road in case a platoon of Hybrids was patrolling on it. As Donny looked around the place, he noticed that the woods were very calm and peaceful. The man even heard a few birds singing in the trees and saw a few natural insects buzzing around the giant oak trees. The water and plants all looked natural and healthy, seemingly untouched by the Chimeran virus. At least, that was until he saw the Spinners scurrying along the grass. The captain frowned. For a moment there, he actually thought this was the one place in America that hadn't been infected by the Chimeran plague. Something in his mind told him that this area would be perfectly safe. Boy was he naïve. Donny looked in the sky and saw the Chimeran ships quickly zooming through the clouds as well. They were still there, implying that something was looming very, very soon. Maybe that asshole's right, thought Donny. Maybe I should be fighting the Chimera and taking back this country. After all, there's no point in raising a child, or even living in this world if those beasts inhabit it. The soldier kept walking forward very slowly, kicking away any Spinners that got close to him and swatting any bushes or giant leaves out of the way. The squadron jumped over some debris and couple of felled trees before they finally arrived onto one of the main roads.

Lucky for them, both sides of the road were blocked by debris or crashed vehicles, so there was no chance that the Chimera would come at them from the sides. Up ahead was a large, brown house that looked like it hadn't been touched by the enemy, but Donny knew that would all change once he went inside. The captain hurriedly walked over to the back door and peeked through the window, checking to make sure no Grims or sleeping Hybrids were inside. It was clear. The captain kicked the door, expecting it to open, but he only managed to get it open by an inch before something on the other side blocked it.

"What—?"

The captain kicked the door again. Still nothing. He inhaled sharply and planted his boot against the door three more times, and then it finally burst open with a disgusting splattering sound. Donny backed up and aimed his rifle at the ground when he saw chunks falling onto the ground, followed by a skinny, pale figure. He sighed with relief.

"It was just a cocoon. Let's keep going."

Everyone nodded and followed the captain inside the house. They were on alert more than ever now, aware that the house was full of cocoons that could burst open at any moment. Myles and Polick looked around the kitchen and cautiously stepped past two large, bloated cocoons that were still moving periodically, as though the human being trapped inside was dying to get out. As they walked into the living room, Olivia grimaced when she saw four large and small cocoons—presumably a whole family—just churn as it moved, accompanied with a small, gurgled moan. She shook her head and ignored it. They were already dead or Grims; nothing they could do about it now. Donny arrived at the stairs and gestured for Lars and Lee to go check out the second floor. They nodded and crept up the creaky stairwell, arriving to the rooms upstairs. Like they assumed, no one alive was up there—there were more cocoons, and it looked like someone hung himself, preferring to die by his own hands than letting the Chimera convert him. Lee sighed.

"We're all clear up here. No signs of—"

Just then, the cocoon Lee was standing next to moaned loudly and moved. Lee glanced at it and could've sworn he saw the Grim inside moving, using its claws to break through the squishy chamber. He shouted and slashed it with his knife, before bashing it open with the butt of his rifle. Nothing came out of the cocoon but more ooze and blood and an unconscious (or dead) Grim. The captain and Polick aimed their rifles up the staircase and turned on their lights.

"Lee!" shouted Donny.

He sighed. "False alarm. Nothin' up here but cocoons. …God, I hate these damn things."

Lee and Lars returned downstairs, where they witnessed Mickey kick open the front door. The seven soldiers quickly ran outside, only to stop when they noticed the front yard was infested with dozens and dozens of cocoons, as well as more oversized Spinners that wouldn't stop scurrying across the yard. Donny sighed and tightened his jaw, keeping his anger bottled up inside of him. Everyone did the same, except for Lee, who believed that sooner or later, the cocoons would hatch and a mob of Grims would attack him and tear his innards out. The squadron breathed heavily as they maneuvered through the field of nasty cocoons, still grimacing a bit when they saw some of them jiggle. But all the Grims were dormant, and they managed to reach the residence's driveway without encountering any of the zombie-like Chimera. They arrived onto another road overlooking a hill and several more houses. The team had a clear view of the entire area from the road; they could see all the hills and houses and woods in a distance. There weren't near Lake Balboa or any other large source of water, so they didn't have to worry about Furies attacking. The roads seemed clear of the Chimera, but the team was discouraged when they saw that nearly half-a-dozen vehicles had been destroyed.

"Got a couple transport trucks here, Captain. You think the missing soldiers are nearby?" asked Mickey.

Donny shook his head. "Doubtful. We would've heard gunfire by now."

As if on cue, the soldiers heard a beast roar in the distance. Everyone checked their surroundings quickly and looked beyond the horizon, fearful that a Leviathan could be in the area. But the Leviathan was a giant—they would've seen it by now if it was within ten miles of them.

"Sarge, are there any Marauders in San Fernando Valley?"

"Couldn't be…all of them were spotted in Louisiana."

"Howlers maybe?" suggested Olivia.

"That was a _roar_, Livy, not a howl. There's a difference."

"I know that, Lee," said the female soldier, with irritation in her voice.

"Let's get off the road anyway," said Donny.

Donny headed over to the edge of the freeway and slid down the hill, the six soldiers trailing behind him. Once they started walking through the bushes, they heard something beep a couple of times. Donny didn't even have to look up in the sky. He knew what was coming.

"Damnit—DRONES!"

Polick and Mickey crouched behind a bush, Donny, Lars, and Myles hid behind three thick trees, and Lee and Olivia threw themselves into a deep ditch, panting as they aimed their guns up into the air. Donny peeked behind the corner of the tree and saw a couple of Patrol Drones. There were only a few of them in the area, floating around quietly, beeping and shining their lights on the ground, looking for intruders.

"They don't know we're here. Just stay out of sight and keep quiet."

The soldiers waited by as the Patrol Drones slowly fluttered in-between trees, vehemently making sure that the only presence in the area was Chimeran. Donny tightened his grip on the Carbine when a Drone stopped only a few feet away from him. He expected the machine to turn around, shine its light on him, and start firing. But the Drone just beeped again and continued fluttering forward. Polick and Mickey had no issue being camouflaged by the bushes, but Lars was almost spotted by one. Due to his large girth, one of the Drones spotted part of Lars's bulky arm from behind the tree. He quickly shifted himself over when he heard the Drone beep louder than usual and heard it float his way. He knew that the machine was going to spot him, so he had to go on the offensive. Lars holstered the Wraith behind his back and grabbed the shotgun instead. When the Drone was mere inches away from his head, the soldier grunted and smashed the Drone to pieces with his weapon. He sighed and looked beyond the corners of the tree again. All the Drones were gone, but Donny and his team weren't in the clear just yet.

Just when Donny was about to tell his team to move forward, he heard something growling in the distance and huffed. Two Hybrids had been sent into the area, probably scouts by the looks of them. They knew by now that Drones don't always get the job done, so the Ravagers and Steelheads would occasionally send a few foot soldiers out on patrol. Donny swore softly to himself and studied the Hybrids closely, trying to anticipate their movements. One of them was slowly trekking through the wet soil barefooted, and the other was growling to himself, his finger resting on the trigger of the Bullseye. That Hybrid was heading towards Lars and the barefooted one was heading his way. Lars flicked his eyes over at Donny, who saw him jerk his head over towards the trigger-happy Hybrid. Lars nodded, and holstered his weapon. Meanwhile, the barefooted Hybrid was getting close to Donny and growled loudly before sniffing the air a couple of times. The captain grabbed his knife from its holster and held his breath, waiting for the creature to turn around so he could attack. Donny peeked around the tree just far enough to see the Chimera's eyes, and then stopped. He felt like he just blew it, that the Hybrid just saw him and was about to shout some guttural command that would alert fifteen Steelheads. But to his amazement, the Hybrid turned around and growled again, either unaware or ignoring him. That's when Donny struck him in the back of the neck with the knife. The Hybrid screamed, but his voice was gurgled; his mouth was quickly filling up with blood. Donny grunted and inserted the knife even deeper into the monster's flesh, watching as it spasmed and twitched. The trigger-happy Hybrid heard his partner groaning and shouted out something before spotting Donny. Before he could fire off a shot, Lars grabbed his head and jerked it around at an angle it physically should not be at, making it pop. The trigger-happy Hybrid went limp and dropped his gun around the same time the barefooted one died. Both soldiers shoved the cadavers down and exhaled.

"Clear. Let's go!" said the captain.

As everyone removed themselves from their hiding spots, the sergeant scratched his head in confusion. "Wait a minute, wait a minute, stop," said Polick.

Everyone stopped and turned around to face Polick. "What, Sarge?" said Myles.

He sighed. "This doesn't feel right. This whole area should be swarming with Chimera. Why are we only running into Drones and a couple of Hybrids?"

"Did you forget about the Marauder we heard roaring five minutes ago?" asked Mickey.

"So the Chimera deploys Drones, two Scouts, and an armless dinosaur that is _nowhere near us_ to look for intruders? Something stinks here guys."

"You are standing next to two dead Hybrids."

Polick looked down at the corpses. "Not literally, Lee. It's just…nothing about this situation seems right at all."

"You think the general set us up?" asked Myles.

"Maybe, maybe the Chimera."

"Sergeant, even if the Chimera or the general is setting us up, we can't go anywhere now. We're already here and if we called in a VTOL, it'd just get shot down. For all we know there are Stalkers in the area or, God forbid, Angels."

"Captain, if there is even the slightest possibility that—"

"Sergeant, are you even certain that the Chimera are in the area, or is this just another gut feeling or yours?"

Polick started to say, "Yeah, it's just a gut feeling," but quickly stopped himself because he knew that Donny wouldn't give a shit about his gut feelings. Some days he was right. Other days, his assumptions were completely off, and there were even times where that "feeling" was nothing more than gas. Polick chuckled.

"C'mon, Captain, you know how those gorillas are. Remember back in Missouri, when those bastards got the drop on us even though the whole area was dead silent for two hours?"

"This isn't Missouri, Sarge. Sounds like the captain's cowardice is rubbin' off on you."

"It's not—" Polick huffed. "I'm just suggesting that we go back and travel on the main road."

"Despite my current feelings about this war and where I stand in it, I'm still your captain on the battlefield, Sergeant, which means you'll do what I say whether you like it or not."

"Sir—"

"You're welcome to venture on your own if you'd like."

Polick sighed again and shut his eyes. "No, sir, I'll stay with you," he mumbled.

"Wise decision."

The others followed their captain through the woods without questioning his leadership again, even though Polick was still considering turning around and traveling on the road. He only stayed because he'd prefer facing a fleet of Chimera with six soldiers backing him up, instead of doing the mission solo. As the soldiers continued to trek through the forest, Polick observed his surroundings more keenly, checking all directions and making sure nothing was waiting to attack them in the bushes. But he found nothing. And that was exactly the problem. The wind stopped blowing. The bugs stopped buzzing. The birds stopped singing. The only thing Polick could hear were his comrades breathing and the watery ground squishing underneath their feet. He couldn't even hear Patrol Drones whirring or beeping. It was like the entire forest just froze in time. About ten minutes of walking in eerie silence later, the squad arrived at a cabin sitting adjacent to a dried-out creek and more cabins. There was a hill across the creek that led to even more cabins—Donny figured that this must've been where the ambushed soldiers took refuge…temporarily. Donny gestured for the team to wait, before sending Olivia and Myles forward to go scope out the cabin. They checked all the windows but found nothing inside except worn-out furniture or cobwebs in the corners of the building. There wasn't a cocoon in sight. Olivia still wanted to be sure, so she kicked open the door and ran inside the house, panting as she inspected the entire floor. Still, there was nothing hostile on the first floor.

"Clear."

"Check upstairs and see if any survivors or cocoons are hiding up there. The rest of us will check—"

Before the captain could finish, Polick heard odd cooing up in the trees and gasped. The sergeant saw Donny walking forward towards the creek and held out a hand.

"FREEZE! STOP RIGHT THERE!" he shouted as quickly as possible.

Donny kept his right foot in mid-air and checked his surroundings. "What is it, Sarge?"

Polick took a few steps toward the cabin, still letting out labored breaths before he heard the eerie cooing again. He pointed up at the sky.

"You guys hear that?"

"It's a miracle: the Chimera haven't killed off all the birds yet," muttered Lee.

"That's not a bird, Lee," said Mickey, as he backed up to the cabin.

"Everyone get in the cabin, now."

"Calm down, Myles! Even if there was a Chameleon in the area, we would've heard it by now."

"We just did, Captain!"

Donny shook his head and said, "Do you guys feel any vibrations in the ground? Do you guys hear any thunderous footsteps?"

Everyone shook their heads. "Exactly. For all we know, it's just a couple of Hybrids trying to make us paranoid with fear—"

"Well, it's working…" muttered Mickey.

"All right, that's enough! I want you, Myles, and Livy to check all the cabins on this side of the creek; the rest of us will cross that bridge and inspect the ones over there. If we don't find anything, we keep walking until we either find the survivors or find the horde of Chimera guarding that tower! Are we clear?"

"Yes, sir!" said everyone, except Mickey and Polick.

"…Captain—"

For the first time ever, the captain broke his usual drill sergeant demeanor he presented out in combat, and grinned at Polick instead of shouting "ARE WE CLEAR?" at him.

"What could possibly go wrong?"

And that's when blood erupted all over Myles and Polick's faces. Everyone's eyes grew wide, but Donny noticed that all of the soldiers were staring at him, and not Myles or Polick. The captain inspected the two soldiers more closely and realized that they weren't the ones bleeding, and that it wasn't their blood. And then he felt a searing pain in his chest. Donny opened his mouth and flicked his eyes down to see that several blades were protruding from his chest cavity, all of which were drenched in his blood. Donny screamed horribly as the Chameleon hoisted him up into the air and let his body slide down the blades, making copious amounts of blood drip out onto the ground. Donny squeezed the trigger on his Carbine, but it didn't do any good—he just fired at the ground several times. The captain was wondering why his soldiers hadn't done anything yet—he thought minutes had gone by between him being stabbed and then lifted into the air. In reality, it only took the Chameleon two or three seconds. By the time his soldiers did lift their guns up and attempted to take out the Chameleon, the beast ripped Donny in half, spraying even more blood on the soldiers. The Chameleon promptly jumped away and ran off, camouflaged by its cloaking device. All the soldiers returned fire too little too late; the captain was dead, and his two halves were lying on the ground, oozing out bountiful amounts of blood.

"Captain! Cap—FUCK! Those goddamn—"

"AMBUSH!" screamed Myles.

Everyone looked up at the hills across the creek and saw several Hybrids rushing towards them. They had been hiding there the whole time, waiting for the right moment to strike. Now that their captain was dead and their morale shattered, they figured the squadron would be disoriented. But the squad was quick to react, and started shooting at the Hybrids while simultaneously dodging the Bullseye bullets.

"THEY'RE COMING ACROSS THE BRIDGE!"

Polick glanced to his right and saw three Hybrids snarling and storming over the creek, shooting at them. Fighting the Chimera out in the open was impossible, especially with that Chameleon out there. They had to find cover.

"GET BACK IN THE CABIN! NOW!" he ordered.

Nobody had to think twice. They quickly ran backwards into the house as the Hybrids continued to head towards them, firing a hailstorm of bullets from their Carbines. They didn't have any time to show remorse towards the captain's death. Everyone got into the cabin as fast as possible, with Polick being the last soldier to enter. The sergeant shot a Hybrid multiple times in the chest and watched as it groaned and collapsed to the ground. Then he shouted and slammed the door shut just seconds before he was cut down by more Bullseye bullets.


End file.
